Tester for finger nail color



B 1935. D. BENSYEL 1,990,630

TESTER FOR FINGER NAIL COLOR Filed Jan. 4, 1934 INVENTOR ATTOR EY:

Patented Feb. 12, .1935

Pics

PATENro msrna roa moan NAIL cocoa Duryea Bensel,

Northam Warren Co New'York New York, N.- Y., mum: to rporatlon, a corporation of Application-January 4, 1934, Serial No; 105,227 4 Claims. (01. 35-59) The subject of this invention'is a new article of manufacture constituting a demonstrator or tester for a finger-nail color in the form of a sheetlike and preferably transparent carrier: for

5 such color.

As the invention is preferred to be carried out, such demonstrator or tester, hereinafter called a tryer, presents on said carrier an area which corresponds approximately to the area of the nail to be colored and which is covered by'the color to be tried. Also, as the invention is preferred to be carried out, said carrier is a part or portion projecting from a handle for facilitating placingthe carrier over the nail to arrange the colored area on the carrier over the area of the nail to be colored, so that, without actually coloring the nail, the general effect of the color being tried can be visually appraised as though the nail were actually so colored.

In an approved form of the invention, in accordance with the preferences just indicated, the new article is in the form of a plurality of such carriers, each having a colored area as above, but with the colored areas of the different carriers diflerently colored, and all of said carriers having a common mounting means whereby they are held spread or can be spread for comparison one with another and for laying them one after another over thenail to try various colors on the It has become the fashion for womento apply variously colored preparations or so-called polishes to their finger-nails to give such nails a desiredcolor or depth of color; the usual presentday choices being various shades and tints of a red or red-including color, such as scarlet, crimson or carmine, orbrown or orange, or a combination thereof, and ranging all the way from adeep shade of such a red variant as say maroon to a very light tint of pink or coral matching or approximating thenatural color of 'thenafl. As the term color is used herein, the same includes any color and any and all shades or tints of a' color, even one matching or approximating the 45 natural color of the nail; and so, whenever a nail is herein said to be colored, there is meant the application of any such color thereto. Fingernail colors are commonly provided as v or separately bottled liquids; and the selected color is usually painted over the exposed top surface of the nail. Theselection of the correct color-is considered veryimportant, as to match a certain personali ma certain mood, a certain gown,, or for some other-reason. V

Heretofore, there has been no'way to visualisedevice for permit vnail;

Just exactly the effect which will nnallybe obtained after a color has been applied to a nail and dried, short ofv actually painting the nail with that color and allowing the latter to dry on the I instantaneous interchangeability of different color effects for comparison purposes, that is, the substitution of one color for another on the same nail, each laid thereon exactly as though painted and driedthereon, has not been possible.

It is an important provide, not only a fin but, also, a simple,

nail. Consequently, 5

object of the invention to ger-nail tryer as first-above, inexpensive and practicable ting a plurality of different colors to be instantaneously interchangeably tried on a. nail, exactly as they would appear thereon if actually painted and then dried thereon.

a The invention will be more clearly understood from the following description, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, which is illustrative of certain embodiments of the invention as now preferred. I 4

In this drawing,

Fig. 1 is a top plan view, ment having a plurality of color carriers temporarily spread fanwlse for simultaneous inspection;

Fig. 2 is likewise a top plan view, but showing the device rearranged to extend a selected one of said carriers to the left of and in alignment with allthe other carriers, so that said device canbe given an endwise advance toward the left to place the color carrying area on the left end of the selected carrier over the nail of, the thumb shown totheleftinFig.2;

Fig.- 3 is a side elevational view showing said: device, arranged as in Fig. 2 but partially broken away 'atthe right, after being advanced as just mentioned to lay said area over the thumb nail Fig. 4 isa longitudinal vertical section, taken on the line 4-.4 of Fig. 2, but showing a temporary deformation of said selected carrier to adapt the showing an embodisame at its color-carrying area to fit the lateral convexity'of a thumbor otherfingeril;

' Fig. 5 is a transverse vertical section, taken on tlieline55ofFlg.-i.

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig.1, and showing an embodiment of the same general type as shown in Fig. l but constituting a modification of the latter in that the color-carrying areas of the carriers are permanently shaped to have curvatures 0 to fit the convexity of a-thumborother finger- Fig. 7 is .a side elevation, partially in central longitudinal vertical section, of the uppermost carrier seen in Fig.- 6; and 5 Fig. 8 is a top, plan view showing an embodiment wherein a plurality of color carriers are permanently held to a fanwise spread.-

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views of the drawing.

The now prevailing mode is to color only the main portion of the nail, that is, the substantially U-shaped portion of the nail between the white or whitish halfmoon" exposed beyond the cuticle at the root end of the nail and the white or whitish crescentic tip of the nail which lies beyond the flesh-held outer limit of the nail. In Figs. 1 and 2, such halfmoon is indicated at 10, such tip at 11, and said main portion of the nail at 12. And as the colored areas of all the carriers are shown, such areas being marked C,

they are of a U-shape similar to that of the nail portion 12, as will be noted.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 5, each tryer for a different color is shown as including a carrier sheet 13, 14, 15, 16 or 17 of celluloid or other suitably and preferably transparent sheet material. These sheets are elongated, and are in the form of normally fiat strips, as indicated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. The colored area of each strip is near one end thereof; that is, each strip is made up in part of a a main length constituting a handle and a lesser length constituting a longitudinal projection from such handle, this projection carrying the colored area C of the strip.

Whether such a strip be disconnected from a plurality of its fellows, or connected thereto by a common mounting, such main or handle length I of any carrier can be manually grasped and employed as a handle to lay the colored area C of I that carrier over the thumb-nail of Fi s. 1 and 2 or some other selected finger-nail.

As these strips 13, 14, 15, 16'and 1'7 are shown, they are secured together by a common mounting means, in. the form of an eyelet or grommet 18 constituting a simple and convenient way of pivotally coupling all the strips, for fanwise spread as in Fig, l, or for extending one of the strips as a longitudinal continuation of the other strips stacked to form a fairly thick handle prolongation or trailer as in Figs. 2 and 3, or for stacking all the strips like bundle.

When any colored area C of any of these strips is applied as above explained over a nail, especially when the carriers are of clear celluloid or some like transparent material, the appearance of the nail will be exactly that which it would have if actually carrying a dried painting thereon of the color being tried. The nail can be given this appearance instantly. Because the carriers are formed of celluloid or like transparent material, the entire nail will be seen, all at once, with the halfmoon 10 and the tip 11 appearing the same as before the carrier was applied but now separated by the color being'tried. with the carriers spread fanwise as in Fig. 1, whether there be only five such carriers as shown, or any number desired, the various colored areas C carried by these carriers can be instantaneously interchangeably applied to the nail, and a quick,'and what is certain to be an ultimately satisfactory selection, can be made as to whichparticular one of several differently colored preparations available, should be painted and dried on the nail.

To facilitate quickly and squarely and properly setting the colored area C of a carrier over the proper part of the nail, each of the carriers 13,

cation of the colored area C of into a single compact barmeans, however,

. substantially rectangular strips,of a width such that the terminal portions thereof carrying the colored areas can be thus applied to the nail.

Further to facilitate quick and proper applia carrier 13, 14, 15, 18 or 1'1 to the nail, it has been found desirable to cut away the carrier within the bowl of the U-shaped color area, as shown in the cases of the carriers 13, 14, 15 and 17, and this is recommended. However, if desired, the carriers may be shaped otherwise opposite the bowl of such U, for instance, in the way the carrier 16 is shaped at 16' in Fig. 1, but the preferably, so that this edge 16' will fit within the cuticle around the root portion of the nail.

It has been found, also, that a true appraisal of a contemplated color on the nail can be obtained if the width of the nail is somewhat more or less, rather than exactly, covered by the colored area C of the carrier. Thus, the strips 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 could be of a width somewhat less than the width of a thumb-nail and somewhat greater than the width of the nail of another finger than the thumb; so that the color trial can be made relative to either of such nails by a single strip. If these carriers are some or all to carry a colored area 0 exactly approximating the width of a nail on some other finger than the thumb, the strips 13, 14, 15, 16 and 1'! need not be correspondingly cut down in width, especially if transparent; that is, carriers to carry colored areas of the kind last mentioned can have such areas placed thereon in the manner shown in connection with the colored area C of the carrier 1'1.

It is sometimes the nail, to have desired, in trying a color on the carrier flexed to match it is recommended that the carrier material be readily flexible, so that when finger pressed on opposite sides in the neighborhood of the colored area thereon or at some distance in rear of said area the carrier can be curved laterally as indicated in Figs. 4 and 5. This can be easily and satisfactorily accomplished when the strips 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 are made of sheet celluloid.

Referring now to Figs. 6 and 7, here also there are a plurality of elongate structures each generally strip-like and each having near one end thereof a sheet-like carrier for a colored area C. These structures are marked 13', 14', 15', 16' and 17; and are generally similar to the strips 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 of Fig. 1 as to structure and as to relative adjustabilitythat is, each of the structures 13', 14', 15, 16' and 17' includes a main length constituting a handle and a terminal proiection therefrom to carry the colored area, and all these structures are held together by a common mounting means, such that they can be spread fanwise as shown or whollyor partially stacked one over another. Such mounting although in a broad sense a pivoting one like the grommet 18, is preferably more of a loose swivel, being shown in the form of a closed metal ring 19 passed through apertures 20 in the ends of said structures opposite to their terminal projections which carry the colored areas. Such loose swivel-is provided because here the projections last referred to, one of which is shown at 14", are formed, as from riers 13', 14', 15', 16' and 17' may be of unitary 'or plural-piece construction. If unitarily thus molded the carriers can well be molded from transparent celluloid. And however these carriers are made, preferably their projections which carry the colored areas will, at least, be transparent.

Referring finally to Fig. 8, here a plurality of carriers of colored areas C are present as sheetlike radially arranged projections from a substantially triangular handle 21 common to all the carriers and constituting a mounting means therefor to hold them permanently in the fanwise spread shown. The handle 21 can well be a larger fraction of a circle than that indicated, or even a full circle, as to carry more than four carriers in fanwise or radial spread. In any construction wherein a single handle is common to a plurality-of carriers, the handle and such carriers, where the latter are to be permanently projected from the handle, can be formed from a single sheet of a suitable material, as celluloid, of any selected thickness; or the handle and the carriers can be separate pieces but with the carriers suitably attached to the handle, as, for instance, to have the carriers thinner than the handle to provide a fairly rigid handle yet to allow a fiexure of any carrier as in Figs. 4 and 5. In this last-mentioned case, the carriers. can very conveniently be mounted on the handle so as partially to overlap the same and so as permanently to project therefrom to the extent required or to be say rotationally adjustable (as by individual grommets for the different carriers) for projection or non-projection from the carrier. Where the carriers are to be permanently projected from a handle,a plurality of such grommets or a suitable adhesive can be employed between the handle and each of the carriers. Any of the well-known celluloid cements can be used, if the union of the parts is to be fixed and by adhesion, where such parts are of celluloid or of a material which is bondable to such a cement. a

An embodiment of the'invention as shown in Fig. l or Fig. 6 is, however, now preferred, as affording a more compact assemblage, especially when all the strip-like structures are stacked one above the other, for enclosurein a carton which packages a container of the nail coloring prepa ration; these preparations being usually packed in rather small bottles. Then a manufacturerof a line of say five or seven different nail colors could supply in each carton, whatever be the color packaged therein, a tryer made up of five or seven of the strip-like structures, each colored with a different one of the colors of that line. The form of device shown in Fig. 1 is particularly adapted for this purpose; 7 The modification of Fig. 6 is particularly adaptable for use in a beauty parlor, drug-store or the like, where a patron or customer is frequently undecided as to which nail color to purchase of the various different ones on sale.

In any form of the invention, at some suitable point on each carrier, or at some suitable point on a part of the device adjacent thereto, will be, desirably, the manufacturer's identifying name, number or symbol for the color on the colored area C of that carrier.

While there have been shown various now preferred forms of the invention, and while certain features of such forms are described with considerable particularity, it will be understood that various changes can be made in the combination, construction and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

' I claim:

1. As a new article of manufacture, a tryer for a finger-nail color including an elongate strip of flexible sheet material having a transparent portion 'near one end thereof snugly .fittable within the side margins of the nail and carrying a colored U-shaped area to cover the area to be colored.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a tryer for finger nail colors including a plurality of flexible sheet-like carriers each snugly fittable within the side margins of the nail and presenting a colored area to cover the area to be. colored, the colored portions of the different carriers being differently colored, and a common mounting means for all said carriers.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a tryer for finger-nail colors including a plurality of flexible sheet-like carriers each snugly flttable within the side margins of the nail and presenting a' colored area to cover the area to be colored, the colored portions of the different carriers being difierently colored, and a mounting means common to all said carriers for holding them spaced.

for simultaneous inspection.

4. As a new article of manufacture, a tryer for finger-nail colors including a plurality of flexible sheet-like carriers each snugly fittable within the side margins of the nail and presenting a colored area to cover the area to be colored, the colored portions of the different carriers being differently colored, each of said carriers being an elongate strip having a transparent U-shaped portion near one end thereof carrying its colored area, the opposite ends of said carriers being apertured, and means engaging all said carriers by .way of said apertures to secure said carriers together while allowing them to be spread fanwise to display all their colored areas simultaneously.

DURYEA 'BENSE; 

